The present invention relates generally to a system and method for detecting gas leaks using unmanned aerial vehicles and, more specifically, to a system and method for using unmanned aerial vehicles, also referred to herein as drones, to identify the source of a gas leak.
Global warming is accelerated by the presence of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. While the impact of Carbon Dioxide is well documented, less commonly known, Methane, ethane, nitric oxide, or hydrogen sulphide may not be as well documented. Many of the above gases may have a greenhouse gas impact much greater than that of carbon dioxide. One source of methane leaks come from is at natural gas extraction sites. In many cases, leaks can be easily fixed if monitoring and tracking technologies are in place to detect and alert an owner about the size and locations of the leaks. Not only do these leaks have a major environmental impact, they can present a health hazard. If these leaks go unregulated or undetected, these hazards can become potentially detrimental and also a present a major financial burden on the operating companies.
Currently, the detection of these leaks is a manual and tedious process that involves a person inspecting a methane site with an infrared camera. These inspections are infrequent and are in many cases not quantitative in determining the leak rate. In addition, theses inspections pose health risks to the personnel who are tasked with performing the inspections.